1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates generally to methods and systems for a variable user tactile input device with display feedback. The variable user tactile input device with display feedback may be a keyboard system with tactile feedback and a software generated keyboard display system. The invention may provide a user tactile input device to the user that may not be viewed while using a heads up display (HUD) and, more specifically according to aspects of certain embodiments, may provide a user with an input device that may be programmable to be a keyboard, a joystick, a number pad, a game pad and any other user tactile input device that the user may want to use.
2. General Background
Historically electronic devices such as computers, tablets, gaming boxes may use a user tactile input device, for example, a keyboard, a joystick, a number pad, a game pad, that may be mechanical or electrical in nature. As computers, tablets, gaming boxes, for example, may be becoming smaller, mechanical user tactile input devices may become difficult to provide and use. For example, it may not be possible to make a standard QWERTY keyboard as shown in the system of FIG. 2A small enough to fit on a device that may need a keyboard entry such as a cell phone or a tablet computer. If the keyboard is made small enough to use in many prior art devices, such as a cellular phone or a tablet computer, may be awkward to use since the keyboard buttons may be smaller than the users fingers. The advantage of using a standard QWERTY keyboard may be that the user may have familiarity with this type of user entry device and it may be manufactured to have tactile feedback. Tactile feedback is the response that the user obtains when depressing a key. Tactile feedback may be electrical or mechanical in nature and, for example, may be a clicking sound, a motion of the keys, or a vibration when a key is depressed.
FIG. 2B depicts prior art that may use a standard QWERTY keyboard 130 as its user tactile input device. Such a keyboard may use mechanical switches on every key depress and may be shown to be connected to a computer 140 while the computer may be shown to be connected to a display 150. Certain user tactile input systems may be limited because the user can only view where to type on the keyboard 130 when the user can view the physical keyboard. There may be no alignment fixtures or contact bumps on the keys to align the users fingers to the keys and there may be no feedback mechanisms from the display 150 that the user may be able to view before a key is depressed. For these reasons, for applications where the user may not be able to see the keyboard, the user may not know if they are going to be typing the correct keys on the keyboard until after the key has been depressed and it shows up on the display in the Prompt Line 170 within the application window 160. The prompt line 170 represents any area within the computer display where typed text may appear. The keyboard 130 connection 135 to the computer 140 in FIG. 2B may be wired or wirelessly connected, including without limitation WiFi, RF or Bluetooth.
Another approach, for example, for a tablet or for a cellular phone, may be to have a touch screen and virtual user tactile input device on the display of the device. The issue with this approach may be that as soon as the display keys may be touched by the user, for example, with a finger or with a pointing stylus, the symbols corresponding to the keys are displayed on the display. Simply resting the users fingers on the display may depress a key and cause a symbol to appear in the prompt line. Therefore, the user may need to view the display before touching a key. For certain applications the user may not be able to see the user tactile input device, such as a user using a heads up display (HUD) while typing on a virtual keyboard. In such applications, the user may find that the keys that have been pressed may be incorrect after the symbols are displayed on the prompt line of the application window.
FIG. 3 depicts prior art that may use a QWERTY keyboard as its user tactile input device using a touch screen QWERTY display keyboard 330. The display keyboard shows a QWERTY keyboard 330 and when a key is touched 335, for example, with a finger or with a pointing stylus 345, the keys are displayed on the display 310 on the prompt line 340 of the application window 320. This keyboard may need to be viewed before being touched in order for the correct symbol to be appear in the prompt line 340, since simply touching any key will type that key. This also requires that the user must be able to access the keyboard and view the keyboard at the same time. This may not work for a heads up display that is approximately one inch from the eye.
Another prior art implementation may be an optical virtual keyboard. The optical virtual keyboard may optically detect and analyze human hands and finger motions and may interpret them as operations on a physically non-existent input device such as a surface having painted keys. In this way it may allow the emulation of many types of manually operated input devices such as a mouse, game pad, or keyboard. A mechanical input unit may be replaced by such a virtual device, but it may require that the fingers move in a typing fashion in front of an optical detector. Therefore, it may need an optical detector in close proximity to the hands, monitoring hand movement and any movement of the hands and fingers may type keys on the display.
Accordingly, it is desirable to address the limitations in the art. For example, there exists a need to provide for systems and methods that may allow the user to use a variable user tactile input device that may not be able to be viewed at the same time as the display and may provide tactile and/or visual feedback to the user before the key may be depressed.